Googling grades

When you do a Google search for “Jim Walsh”, the first hit that appears on your computer screen is Rep. Jim Walsh’s official House of Representatives Website.

But directly to the right of that entry, in the column reserved for paid Google advertisers, is a bright blue sponsored link headlined: “Walsh Earns An F”.

The link leads to Walsh’s score on a report card of votes that The Drum Major Institute has identified as being important to the middle class. According to DMI, Walsh received an F on middle-class issues, scoring a remarkable 0 percent.

Walsh, however, is not alone. The left-leaning think tank gave an F to 58 percent of all members of the House of Representatives, based on votes they cast on eight bills in 2005. These bills ranged from the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) to an energy bill that the institute says does not do enough to reduce fuel prices for consumers.

“They bill themselves as non-partisan, but in reality it’s a group of liberal Democrats,” said Dan Gage, a spokesman for Walsh. “It’s a partisan committee with a particular agenda.”

Republicans like Walsh fared much worse than Democrats in the analysis by DMI, a group connected to Fernando Ferrer, the failed Democratic candidate for New York City mayor against Republican Michael Bloomberg.

Failing grades were given to 99 percent of House Republicans and 11 percent of House Democrats, according to the report. About 44 percent of House Democrats got an A.

Andrea Batista Schlesinger, executive director of DMI, said the group found fault with Democrats as well as Republicans. The scorecard was an effort to translate the votes representatives make in Washington into issues that matter to middle-class voters.

The group decided to advertise the report through Google, because they found it to be an effective way to get information out when they first tried it in March, she said. On Tuesday, the ad’s first day, more than 100,000 people Googled their congressman’s name and saw the DMI ad, she said. It will run for 30 days.